DESCRIPTION (adapted from the application): The CPC at the UNC-CH requests continued support for its training in the demography of aging and the life course as a special component in a long-standing training program in interdisciplinary population research. This NIA-supported component has emerged as a strong program of modest size that fills a special and relatively neglected niche in the spectrum of programs for training in the demography of aging. In addition to training in more traditional gerontological research and demographic methods, our program provides strong support for the study of aging in the context of life course analysis and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The 52 faculty fellows of the CPC hold primary appointments in 15 departments of UNC-CH and provide an unusually rich environment for interdisciplinary research. Center support services for trainees and faculty carrying out social-science-oriented research are truly outstanding. CPC faculty fellows considered core faculty in this application come from the fields of sociology, economics, nutrition, health policy and administration and biostatistics, and this core is growing. Many faculty from other UNC departments with aging interests are available for consultation by our trainees, and the UNC Institute of Aging (IOA) is an important addition to the already-rich resource base. All CPC predoctoral trainees are subject to the same basic application review, but NIA-supported trainees have course requirements in aging as well as population. All CPC predoctoral students are registered in doctoral programs at UNC-CH and must meet departmental, as well as CPC requirements. Each works at least twelve hours per week under the supervision of a faculty fellow preceptor on a research practicum, participates in the weekly CPC interdisciplinary population research seminar and other seminars, meets center requirements for training in the ethical conduct of research, and writes a dissertation approved as relevant to the demography of aging and the life course. Postdoctoral trainees are admitted directly to the Center and receive individualized training from selected faculty preceptors. Key to both predoctoral and postdoctoral training at CPC is a one-to-one relationship between trainee and faculty preceptor and trainee-faculty collaboration on relevant research.